Method for interacting with a group of individuals as a single contact

ABSTRACT

A method for establishing a group of individuals as a single contact entity eligible for contact services within a contact center includes the steps (a) identifying a group and each group member according to existing group rules and member profiles; (b) identifying and quantifying the unifying aspects of the members in the group; (c) aggregating the contact information for each group member relative to communications channels common to the group members and to the contact center; and (d) establishing one or more temporary and or permanent group channels between the contact center and the group members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of telephony including Internetprotocol network telephony (IPNT), a subset of data network telephony(DNT), and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus for managingmultiple contacts assembled as a group, forming a single contact entitywithin a contact center.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In the art of telephony communications, contact centers exist to handlesales, service and technical support for businesses offering productsand or services to their customers and potential customers.Communications methods typically in place in state-of-art contactcenters focus on individual contacts and manage those contactsindividually from the standpoint of incoming and proactive interactioncampaigns.

At the time of the writing of this specification, contact center clientmanagement solutions only treat individual customers as single contactswithin the center. The customers can be assigned levels (gold, silver,etc.) reflecting their importance to the business, or associated withservice domains (mortgage, credit cards, etc.), but finally eachcustomer is treated individually.

There is currently no contact center solution to treat grouprelationship management within a contact center. More recently,applications such as PhoneTree™ and GroupMe™ have been developed forreaching established groups of individuals, however these solutions arelimited to enabling communications to individual members of the groupsidentified.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a method for establishing a groupof individuals as a single managed contact eligible for contact serviceswithin a contact center. A method such as this would enable moreefficient sales and service using fewer contact center resources.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem stated above is that manageable group-to-business (G2B)relationships are desirable for a contact center, but many of theconventional means (applications) for reaching established groups ofindividuals, such as PhoneTree™ and GroupMe™ are limited to enablingcommunications to individual members of the group. The inventorstherefore considered functional components of an Internet protocol (IP)enhanced call center, looking for elements that exhibit interoperabilitythat could potentially be harnessed to provide group management as asingle contact in a contact center but in a manner that would not createlatency, or traffic overload conditions.

Every contact center is propelled by potential new clients, oneby-product of which is an abundance of transactions for products and orservices. Most such contact centers employ servers and software toconduct the call center traffic from an incoming switch or server to asystem or human-operated interface to handle the interactions, andservers with software are typically a part of such apparatus.

The present inventor realized in an inventive moment that if, at thepoint of discovery, groups of individuals could be managed as a singlecontact within the contact center, significant increase in proactive andincoming business might result. The inventor therefore constructed aunique service for managing customers that allowed groups of potentialcustomers to be handled within the contact center as a single contactentity that may be cultivated to potentially add new customers to thecustomer bases of the contact center. A significant increase in newbusiness results, with no impediment to call-center efficiency orcapacity created.

Accordingly, in one aspect of the present invention, a method forestablishing a group of individuals as a single contact entity eligiblefor contact services within a contact center is provided and includesthe steps (a) identifying a group and each group member according toexisting group rules and member profiles; (b) identifying andquantifying the unifying aspects of the members in the group; (c)aggregating the contact information for each group member relative tocommunications channels common to the group members and to the contactcenter; and (d) establishing one or more temporary and or permanentgroup channels between the contact center and the group members.

In one aspect of the method, the group is an established, but evolvingsocial networking group. In one aspect, the unifying aspects of thegroup members are business domain related. In one aspect, the unifyingaspects of the group members are product related. In one aspect, theunifying aspects of the group members are service related. In oneaspect, the unifying aspects of the group members are skills related.

In one aspect, the contact information includes telephone number, emailaddress, and, or instant message address. In one aspect, the group is atemporary group established on a reoccurring basis. In one aspect, thegroup is a temporary group established once for a specific scheduledfunction or event. In one aspect, the group channels include a Webchannel, a chat room, and, or a conference bridge.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system isprovided for establishing a group of individuals as a single contactentity eligible for contact services within a contact center, comprisingan Internet-connected server and software executing on the server from anon-transitory physical medium, the software providing a first functionfor identifying a group of individuals and each group member accordingto existing group rules and member profiles; a second function foridentifying and quantifying the unifying aspects of the members in theidentified group; a third function for aggregating the contactinformation for each group member relative to communications channelscommon to the group members and to the contact center; and a fourthfunction for establishing one or more temporary and or permanent groupchannels between the contact center and the group members.

In one embodiment, the group is an established, but evolving socialnetworking group. In one embodiment, the unifying aspects of the groupmembers are business domain related. In another embodiment, the unifyingaspects of the group members are product related. In another embodiment,the unifying aspects of the group members are service related. Inanother embodiment, the unifying aspects of the group members are skillsrelated. In one embodiment, the contact information includes telephonenumber, email address, and, or instant message address.

In one embodiment, the group is a temporary group established on areoccurring basis. In another embodiment, the group is a temporary groupestablished once for a specific scheduled function or event. In oneembodiment, the group channels include a Web channel, a chat room, and,or a conference bridge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of a data and communications networksupporting group association to a single contact within a contact centeraccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for transacting with aWeb-based group according to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for dynamic assemblyof a group into a single contact according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for launching aproactive campaign to a single contact representing an established groupaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for triggering amoderated topic group communication for a single contact representing adynamically assembled group according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors provide system and method for contact center operationswherein groups of individuals and perhaps other entities are treated asa single entity in contact center operations. The present invention isdescribed in enabling detail using the following examples, which maydescribe more than one relevant embodiment falling within the scope ofthe present invention.

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of a data and communications network 100supporting group association to a single contact within a contact centeraccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Data andcommunications network 100 is characterized by a network backbone 101.Network backbone 101 represents the Internet backbone including anyconnected sub-networks adapted for Internet protocol. Backbone 101includes all of the lines, equipment, and access points that make up theInternet network as a whole. Therefore, there are no geographiclimitations to the practice of the present invention.

Data and communications network 100 may be referred to hereafter in thespecification as the Internet network, although logically illustrated inthis example to include an Internet connected call center local areanetwork (LAN). The portion of backbone 101 supporting LAN-connectednodes within the call center domain may be referred to as LAN 101. Wherebackbone 101 extends beyond the call center domain, it may be referredto herein as Internet 101. LAN 101 supports multiple agent workstations112 (1-n) within a call center domain. Workstations 112 (1-n) eachinclude a LAN-connected personal computer (PC) and a LAN-connectedInternet protocol (IP) telephone for conducting voice communications. Inthis example, data network telephony (DNT), more specifically, Internetprotocol network telephony (IPNT) is practiced. Analog or publicswitched telephony is not represented although it could also bepracticed within the call center domain.

LAN 101 supports a Web server 106. Web server 106 includes anon-transitory physical medium adapted to contain all of the data andsoftware required to enable function as a Web server that server Webpages created using any one of several known markup languages andsupporting protocols known to and available to the inventors. Web server106 includes a contact center Website 109. Website 109 represents anInternet access point for interacting with and communicating with callcenter resources including live agents operating at workstations 112(1-n). Website 109 may be hosted by the call center or by a businessentity represented by the call center. A third party may also hostWebsite 109.

LAN 101 supports a chat server 105. Chat server 105 includes anon-transitory physical medium adapted to contain all of the data andsoftware, namely chat software (SW) 108, required to enable function asa chat server. LAN 101 supports a message server 104 within the domainof the call center. Message server 104 includes a non-transitoryphysical medium that includes all of the data and software, namelymessage software (SW) 107, required to enable function as a messageserver. Message server 104 may be an email server or any other type ofserver that serves messages, notifications, or other message types.

LAN 101 supports a conference bridge server 115. Conference bridgeserver 115 includes a non-transitory physical medium that contains allof the data and software, namely conference bridging SW, required toenable function as a conference bridge server.

LAN 101 supports a router 103. Router 103 includes a non-transitoryphysical medium adapted to contain all of the data and software requiredto enable function as a router. Router 103 may rout IP calls, messages,internal calls, and other data over LAN 103. Interactions may arrive atrouter 103 from external networks for destination routing within thecall center. Other equipment may be included within the domain of thecall center and may be supported by LAN 101 without departing from thepresent invention, including but not limited to an interactive voiceresponse unit, a voice application server, an outbound contact server,etc. Such utilities are known in call center deployment architecturesand are available to the inventor.

Backbone 101 supports a publicly accessible Web server 110. Web server110 includes a non-transitory physical medium adapted to contain all ofthe data and software (SW) required to enable function as a Web server.Web server 110 is hosted outside of the domain of the call center. Webserver 110 hosts one or more social interaction Websites like socialinteraction Website 111. Website 111 may be a Facebook™ site, a Myspace™site, a Linked-in™ site, a Google™ site, a Twitter™ site, or any othersite that enables social interaction. Such sites routinely host groupsof individual site members such as Facebook friends, for example. Otherexamples of groups include business related groups, or professionalgroups that may be formed on sites such as Linked-in or Google Huddle™,for example.

LAN 101 supports a contact management server 113. Contact managementserver 113 includes a non-transitory physical medium adapted to containall of the data and software, namely contact management software (SW)114, required to enable function as a contact management server. Server113 manages individual contacts that are customers including othercontacts known by the contact center. In a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, SW 113 includes functions for managing a group ofindividuals as a single contact entity within the contact center.

SW 114 includes a function for identifying a group of individualsincluding identification of each group member according to any existinggroup rules and member profiles. In one embodiment, a group ofindividuals could be defined by shared attributes of members of thegroup. In one embodiment, a “virtual” group could be dynamicallyidentified by shared attributes of individuals, which may imply in someembodiments, open membership depending on whether or not the commonattribute(s) apply to an individual for inclusion into the group.

In one embodiment a group may or may not have named group members. Inone embodiment a group is treated as a single contact entity where thenames of individual members of the group are not divulged to the contactcenter. In a preferred embodiment, SW 114 identifies each groupparticipant or member of a group and makes that information generally orconditionally available to contact center services including livepersonnel. SW 114 enables dedicated interaction management solutionstailored to interacting with a group of individuals as a single contactin ways that are different from existing interaction managementfunctions that only treat contacts as individuals.

SW 114 may be enhanced to automatically search for established groups ofindividuals that might have common interests related to one or morebusinesses represented by the call center. For example, SW 114 mayinitiate an automated search or Web crawl to look for established groupsthat interact online. Once a promising group is identified, the SWgathers all of the identification data and any contact data attributedto individual members of the group. In one embodiment, the SWcommunicates to all members of the group through a commonly sharedchannel like a Facebook™ wall, for example. Other channels available tothe group as a whole may be exploited for the purpose of postingnotification to the group as a whole through any available sharedchannel.

There may be multiple communication channels available between thecontact center and the group such as a common Website, posting board,forum, discussion board, or other Web channels. In one embodiment agroup-enabled messaging channel such as Twitter™ can be used tocommunicate with a group. In one embodiment, chat, mass emailnotification, or conference calling is practiced when communicating witha group. Other examples of a group that could be treated as a singlecontact within a contact center are a Circle or Huddle group withinGoogle™ There are many other examples of business-specific groups thatcan be set up either through a dedicated web site run by the givenbusiness represented by the contact center or by leveraging all-purposesocial network infrastructures.

In one embodiment, SW 114 is enhanced for the function of dynamicassembly of a group by searching Web activities of individuals andgrouping them by common activities or interests. In this way, virtualgroups may be established for outbound campaigning purposes. In somecases, a dynamically assembled virtual group may be stored permanentlyas a single contact within the contact center.

Preferred dynamics of a group may vary widely depending on the businesstype marketing to the group. For example, an online sporting goodsretailer may prefer a group whose members have a common attributeinterpreted as a close involvement or relationship to certain sportsactivities. A fashion or gaming business will look for groups withunifying common attributes in those business areas.

A group may be a temporary group that assembles for an event-relatedtrip where a certain number of seats will be occupied as evidenced byonline registration, for example. In this case, the business may be acasino or even the sponsor of the trip offering relative products and orservices. A group may be a temporary group assembled for a pre-definedperiod of time such as, for example, Ford Fiesta's program for personsapplying to be one of the top agents to win a free Fiesta car for sixmonths and documenting their experience on Lifestream™.

In addition to a wide variety of different types of groups that may betreated as a single contact within a contact center, there may be avariety of different business relationships a particular company maynurture in these groups. In one embodiment, the group is a partner in acommercial transaction. In another embodiment, a group is subject toopinion or influence mining. Still another group may be cultivated asproduct or service beta group, a product focus group, or subjects oftargeted medical treatments such as a clinical trial enrolling hundredsof individuals whom all have online accounts. In one case a groupcomprises investors in specific areas of stocks or bonds or capitalgroups that fund businesses and require specific services like headhunting or the like.

In another embodiment, a group may be attributed special rules like aspecific number of individuals requiring a specific number ofindividuals present (online) to trigger services, or if political, aspecific presence of voting members, etc. Other rules may be created bythe marketing business for certain types of established groups such asestablishing a deputy policy with approval processes. A company mayestablish rank and weight, required presence type, and permission todelegate for the group. There may be authentication rules for voting ofdelegating for the group by one or a quorum of members. Contact rulesmay also be created for treating a group as a single contact entity likerequiring certain strength relative to authentication of individuals inthe group and what methods are required to prove virtual presence forperforming a transaction on behalf of group members. Opt out policiesmay also be implemented for certain groups. Time limits may beestablished for marketing purposes such as a minimum time window for aquorum or group majority to have online presence before a marketingcampaign is launched.

A group that is identified or dynamically assembled by SW 114 may bemarketed to as a single contact where the contact information of all thegroup's members is also known to the contact center. The group data,individual member profiles, group or member contact information, groupcommon attributes and other data may be stored in a database under asingle contact heading. Discounts in products or services may beautomatic depending on the number of individuals in a given group thatare willing to engage in a transaction through the call center. Outboundcampaigns targeting a group as a single contact might use Website 109,chat SW 108, message SW 107, or conference SW 116 to initiatecommunications with members of the group. In this way one or a few liveagents may handle a group transaction or multiple transactions arisingout of group communications such as an online forum or conference call.In one embodiment, a single agent may work an online group designated asa single contact by moderating a group chat session wherein those in thegroup that are ready to transact may be re-directed to a waiting pool ofclosing agents such as agents operating workstations 112 (1-n). Thereare many possibilities.

FIG. 2 is a process flow chart 200 illustrating steps for transactingwith a Web-based group according to an embodiment of FIG. 1. At step201, the contact management server identifies a Web-based group thatfits the business criteria for a valuable contact. At step 202, thecontact management SW may invite the group to register as a specialgroup receiving large discounts on products and services. In one aspectof the method the contact management service first finds a minimumnumber of individuals having like interests relative to the marketingbusiness and then establishes a virtual group, which is then managed asa single contact.

At step 202, registration may be performed through a Website likeWebsite 109 of FIG. 1. Registration may be performed by a delegate ofthe group or by each group member where some contact and profileinformation may be collected. At step 203, the contact management serverprepares a list of all of the individuals of the group includingpertinent data such as full names, profile specifics, images (ifavailable), Website memberships, and so on. The contact managementserver also makes note of the shared group-to-business (G-to-B) unifyingaspects relative to business goals at step 204.

At step 205, the contact management server may gather the contactinformation from all group members if such data was not yet available atstep 203. In the case of group registration or application performed bya representative or delegates of the group, contact data may be obtainedafter registration process such as by posting the request on the group'spublic interface or posting board. In this case the persons may providethat information if they would like service and product discounts, forexample.

At step 206, the contact server creates a single contact having all ofthe business-relevant attributes of the group, and stores the data as asingle executable file. At step 207, the contact server may configure orestablish one or more Web channels between the contact center and thegroup for communications and transaction performance. At step 205,individuals may be solicited for contact data and may provide that dataover a secure group channel like a Web page or notification event.Soliciting contact data for individual members of an established groupof individuals identified at step 201 may be based upon a thresholdnumber of members of the group present and on designation of certainoffers like discounted products and services. For example, a group isregistered with group contact information available but the system mayadditionally want the individual contact information from the groupmembers. In order to incentivize this, a greater discount of productsand services may be afforded for a minimum number of members who providethe required contact information.

Process 200 is focused on establishment of existing Web-based groups assingle contact entities within a contact center. In another embodiment,individuals may be identified and assigned to a virtual group based oncommon interest or activities.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart 300 illustrating steps for dynamicassembly of a group into a single contact according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. At step 301, the contact management server (113of FIG. 1) with the aid of contact management software (114 of FIG. 1)sets keyword criteria for monitoring search activities at one or moreestablished search interfaces. The search engine or engines may behosted by the business contracting the contact center or may be searchengines hosted by third party companies who have agreed to allow keywordmonitoring.

The search criteria may be any keywords or phrases developed by thecompany that are relative to products and or services the companyprovides. At step 302, the contact management server monitors the searchactivity of persons utilizing the search engine to perform keyword ortopical searches of the Internet or more segmented venues such ascompany Websites. When a user types one or more of the keywords orphrases set as the search monitoring criteria, that user is counted as apossible group member. At step 303, the contact management server maydetermine if a pre-set minimum number of users have typed in themonitored search terms into the search engine over a set period of time.

If at step 303, the determination is that the threshold was not reached,the process resolves back to step 302 for continued monitoring of searchactivity. If it is determined at step 3 that the minimum number of usersas defined by the threshold has been met, then the contact managementserver establishes a virtual group of all of the members that typed themonitored search terms into the search engine. At step 305, the contactmanagement server obtains contact information of the users of thevirtual group. This may be achieved by inserting a cookie into thebrowser of the user at the time of the search attempt where one or allof the correct search terms were typed into the search engine.

The Website hosting the search engine may insert the cookies. The cookiemay report the last known email address of the user in the virtual groupthe next time the user access the Internet. At the time of the searchattempt, the contact management SW notes the machine addresses or IPaddresses of the computing devices operated by the users used in thesearch and may use those data to identify the users assigned to thevirtual group. After a period of time, the contact data of those usersmay be obtained when they next access the Internet. The cookie causes ashort message to be sent to the contact center from the computingappliance used to enter the search terms into the search interface.

At step 306, the contact management server creates a single contactentity representing the virtual group. At step 307, the contactmanagement server creates one or more group channels dedicated tointeracting with the group. A group channel may be a forum, a discussiongroup, a Website that only group members may access, a conferencechannel, a collaboration channel, or the like.

At step 307, the contact center may create a multi-step proactivecampaign in order to solicit the group members relative to products andservices available to the group. At step 308, the contact managementserver may invite the group to join the created campaign usingmessaging, email, or other obtained contact information of the groupmembers. This group and campaign may be temporary for a one-time eventlike a product rollout, a service discount offer, or some otherpromotion. Individual members of the group may become permanentcustomers after engagement, and may be retained in the system as singlecontacts. In one aspect, the customers developed from the group retaingroup status as long as a minimum threshold number of persons for thegroup is met. In this process the related keywords typed into the searchengine by the users provide the basis for launching a temporary outboundcontact campaign. In another embodiment, the keywords may return ads ormessages inviting users to be part of a group.

FIG. 4 is a process flow chart 400 illustrating steps for launching aproactive campaign to a single contact representing an established groupaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. At step 401, thecontact manager software (SW 114 FIG. 1) browses established onlinegroups by stated interest. One or more human operators may also performbrowsing established groups manually.

At step 402, it is determined if a relevant group is found. A relevantgroup is one where all or a significant number of members share one ormore like attributes that are relevant to the business goals of thesoliciting company. If no relevant group is determined at step 402, thenthe process resolves back to step 401 for continued browsing. If abusiness goal relevant group is found, it is determined at step 403 ifthe group has a common communications board like a posting board.

If it is determined that no common group communications site isavailable, it is determined at step 404 if group contact informationsuch as a group email address or Website is available. If at step 404,no group contact information is available, then it is determined at step405 if individual group member contact information is available. If noindividual group member contact information is available at step 405,the process may resolve back to step 401 for continued browsing.

If it is determined at step 403, that the group has a commoncommunications site such as a group posting message board, forum orposting wall, then the process may skip over to step 406 where a singlecontact is created representing the group. Once a contact is created atstep 406, the process moves to step 407 for preparation of a proactivecampaign that targets the group in some way relevant to the alignedinterests of the group members and the enterprise soliciting the group.At step 404, if the group contact information is available, then theprocess proceeds to steps 406 and 407 accordingly. Likewise, if at step405, member contact information is determined to be available, then theprocess moves to steps 406 and 407. Using dynamic virtual group assemblyor established group registration as a premise for generating anoutbound contact campaign may increase the likely hood of higherpercentage of business conducted with fewer contact center resourcesexpended in the process.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart 500 illustrating steps for triggering amoderated topic group communication for a single contact representing adynamically assembled group according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. In one embodiment, ads may be placed and monitored forinteraction. Ad responders may be dynamically grouped into a virtualgroup represented by a single contact within the contact center. Such agroup may be targeted for proactive invitation from the contact centerto engage in communication.

At step 501, the contact center creates one or more ads that may besearchable by keyword or phrase. At step 502, the contact center or anad service stores the created ads for service to users interacting withreturned search results featuring the ad or with a banner placement ofthe ad link. At step 503, the contact center creates a trip forum foreach separate ad. The term trip forum refers to a moderated discussiontripped or triggered by inclusion of a minimum number of users acceptinga proactive invitation to chat or discuss topics relative to the ad inmore detail.

At step 504, the contact center establishes a minimum number thresholdthat must be met to trigger launching of the trip forum. The thresholdnumber might be established based on predicted response to the placedad. At step 505, the contact center assigns one or more live agents tomoderate in each trip forum should they be triggered. The agents arereserved and are called away from other duties when the forum is tobegin. At step 506, the contact management server may monitor ad servicefor each ad. The contact manager may obtain and store user contactinformation for each ad visit. This may be integrated into the ad, forexample, listing an email address to view the entire ad as opposed to asummary ad. In one embodiment, part of the ad may be hidden or lockedrequiring entry of contact information to unlock the hidden portion ofthe ad. At step 507, the ad monitor may obtain and store contact datafor each ad visit.

At step 508, it is determined if a minimum ad-view threshold has beenreached. If the threshold has not been reached, the process resolvesback to step 506 for continued monitoring. If the threshold has been metat step 508, then the ad-topic forum is triggered at step 509. At step510 the agents or moderators reserved at step 505 are notified of thepending-moderated discussion. At step 511, all of the ad participantsare notified of the topic forum by message notification, typicallyemail. In one embodiment, other contact information may be used innotification if available to the system.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the contactmanagement system of the invention may be provided using some or all ofthe mentioned features and components without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. It will also be apparent to theskilled artisan that the embodiments described above are specificexamples of a single broader invention that may have greater scope thanany of the singular descriptions taught. There may be many alterationsmade in the descriptions without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for establishing a group as a singlecontact within a contact center, comprising: identifying, by a computerprocessor, a group having group contact information; identifying, by thecomputer processor, a plurality of members of the group; identifying, bythe computer processor, aspects common to the members in the group,wherein the identifying aspects common to the members of the groupincludes monitoring, by the computer processor, user actions foridentifying one or more particular types of actions; automaticallylaunching the group by the computer processor, in response toidentifying a threshold number of the users as taking the particularaction, wherein the members of the group include the users identified astaking the particular action; establishing, by the computer processor, agroup communication channel for communicating with the group as a singlecontact; reserving, by the computer processor, a contact center agentfrom a plurality of contact center agents for interacting with thegroup; delivering, by the computer processor, a single message from thecontact agent to the group via the group communication channel;receiving, by the computer processor, a plurality of interactions fromthe plurality of members of the group via the group communicationchannel; and delivering the interactions to the contact center agent forhandling.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is an established,but evolving social networking group.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe aspects relate to at least one of a business domain, product,service, or agent skills.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the group isa temporary group established on a reoccurring basis.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the group is a temporary group established once for aspecific scheduled function or event.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe group communication channel is selected from at least one of a Webchannel, a chat room, or a conference bridge.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the group is a social network group, the group communicationchannel is a social messaging channel accessible to the social networkgroup, and the message is posted as a social message to the group viathe group communication channel.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theparticular action is typing one or more particular keywords into awebpage.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular action isinteracting with an ad.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:obtaining, by the computer processor, contact information for themembers of the group in response to the users taking the particularaction.
 11. The method of claim 1 further comprising: generating, by thecomputer processor, an outbound contact campaign targeting the group,wherein the single message is delivered to the group as part of thecampaign, and the plurality of interactions are in response to thesingle message.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the group contactinformation is at least one of a group email address or website.
 13. Asystem for establishing a group of individuals as a single contactentity eligible for contact services within a contact center,comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores thereininstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: identify a group having group contact information; identify aplurality of members of the group; identify aspects common to themembers in the identified group, wherein the instructions that cause theprocessor to identify aspects common to the members of the groupincludes instructions that cause the processor to monitor user actionsfor identifying one or more particular types of actions; automaticallylaunch the group in response to identifying a threshold number of theusers as taking the particular action, wherein the members of the groupinclude the users identified as taking the particular action; establisha group communication channel for communicating with the group as asingle contact; reserve a contact center agent from a plurality ofcontact center agents for interacting with the group; deliver a singlemessage from the contact agent to the group via the group communicationchannel; receive a plurality of interactions from the plurality ofmembers of the group via the group communication channel; and deliverthe interactions to the contact center agent for handling.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the group is an established, but evolvingsocial networking group.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the aspectsrelate to at least one of a business domain, product, service, or agentskills.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the group is a temporarygroup established on a reoccurring basis.
 17. The system of claim 13,wherein the group is a temporary group established once for a specificscheduled function or event.
 18. The system of claim 13, wherein thegroup communication channel is selected from at least one of a Webchannel, a chat room, or a conference bridge.